


Let me in

by Majinie



Series: Prompts! [4]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, M/M, post-AoU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-11
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-04-25 23:13:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4980367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Majinie/pseuds/Majinie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wanda Maximoff was all the proof Bruce needs to know that he is not and will never be truly stable. The incident tosses him back into less peaceful times and he ends up back in Kolkata where he is less likely to harm anyone, less likely to lose control. It's better that way.</p><p>For some reason, Tony doesn't seem to agree with him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HikariYumi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HikariYumi/gifts).



> Thanks to my beta Myrsky for checking this over despite this not being among her favourite pairings! ;) You're wonderful, I'd be so lost without you.

The day Natasha Romanov had appeared in his life, Bruce had known that following her was a bad idea. Possibly the worst that he'd had in a very long time. It wasn't like he had a real choice though, it had been either coming with her and helping her or hurting people while he resisted. And oh, how tired he was of hurting people.

 

To his surprise, the one he had been most comfortable around had been Tony Stark. He had been intimidated at first – the man's brash introduction and his cocky behaviour would have been sure baits for his alter ego to snatch at in any other person. Tony managed to set him at ease, simply because he wasn't afraid. He didn't flinch as soon as Bruce made a move into his direction, he joked and playfully taunted, he... he seemed like he was just happy to have found someone who could keep up with him and didn't care what was underneath. He was natural and Bruce hadn't met anyone in years who _knew_ and acted that... normal around him. It was probably the reason why he had taken Tony up on the offer of moving into Avengers Tower.

 

“Doctor Banner?”, the quiet voice of a little girl interrupted his thoughts. The scientist rolled onto his side and squinted to make out her shape in the dark.

 

“Yes, what is it?”, he asked softly, the Hindi rolling slightly rough off his tongue.

 

“Ajeet is thrashing around again”, she whispered and he reached for his glasses in the darkness as he told her to go ahead.

 

A small, bitter smile graced his lips, invisible in the dark of the night. Now he was back here, fearing for the lives of children who were too poor to afford anyone else to look after them. Funny how one girl with some mind-controlling powers could change so much. Wanda Maximoff had proved to him that he would never truly be in control of his alter ego. No matter how hard he tried not to, he would always end up hurting someone. That was really not something anyone would want on their team.

 

The Fidjis had been wonderful, beautiful, yeah – but it had felt so very wrong. To stretch out on a beach, shone on by the sun and surrounded by hearty people, contently sipping a drink with a paper umbrella after he had endangered other people's life through his own flaws? There were people out there who could pull that off, but Bruce Banner was not one of them.

 

So instead of lounging around on a beach with a bad conscience, he had returned to India – Kolkata. It felt like a circle closing. Admittedly, he had been surprised to see that the house he had lived in before was occupied by a small family now (small as in a couple with three children), but since one of the two boys was sick with some sort of fever, Bruce was staying here until he got better. Afterwards... well, he'd find something. He always did, after all.

 

By the time he got back to bed (if you could call the thin mattress with the torn blanket that), it dawned outside and he was asleep in less than a minute. It felt like he had only just closed his eyes when the girl's voice woke him up again.

 

Sighing, he slurred: “Wha' is it, Devi? 's Ajeet...”

 

“No”, she interrupted, shaking her head. “You have a visitor.”

 

He blinked and noticed the sunlight streaming on through the window. He couldn't have slept too long and his sleep wasn't really restful, anyway. Sleeping longer wouldn't really help him, so he could as well get up and take care of the patient who was apparently waiting for him. He had made a name amongst the homeless of the place in his time before the Avengers Initiative roped him in, and now that he was back, the word about it had spread like a wildfire.

 

Running a hand through his messy curls, he got up and tried to shake his sleepiness off. He'd slept in his clothes so he just smoothed his shirt out as much as possible and opened the door: “How can I – what the hell?”

 

Tony Stark, leaning in the doorframe, flashed him a brilliant smile as he asked cheekily: “Brucie! Did you miss me?” The physicist just stared at him for a moment. Dressed in a probably way too expensive suit, complete with tie and dress shirt, Tony looked ridiculously out of place, contrasting with the dull colours of the slum. He held the suitcase armour in one hand. “Whoa, no need to be so enthusiastic”, he said, raising his free hand in an ironic, soothing gesture, when Bruce merely kept gaping wordlessly.

 

“Tony”, he eventually stated.

 

“The one and only”, the billionaire confirmed. “Thank God, you can still talk, I thought I'd broke you.”

 

“Tony, why are you here?”, Bruce demanded.

 

“And we're back to full sentences, bless the Lord”, Tony quipped. “And well, that's a difficult question. Some would say that there's a higher might deciding things like that, but I like to think that it started with a really big bang, and from then on, stars and planets...”

 

“ _Tony_ ”, the physicist interrupted, “why are you _here_.”

 

“Here? As in, on your doorstep?”, Tony inquired. “What does it look like? I'm visiting a friend. Aren't you going to invite me in?”

 

“You're not going to leave if I don't, are you?”

 

“Of course not.”

 

Bruce sighed and warned while stepping aside: “It's not pretty though.”

 

“Nothing for spoiled billionaires, is that what you're trying to say?”, Tony asked with a wink while entering. He looked around and commented: “Not judging here, but I'm really surprised that you chose this over Avengers tower. It's so...”

 

“Amazing how you managed to forget about _Not judging_ over the course of one sentence”, the scientist chimed in while he cleared the table of some books on various diseases. From the corner of his eye, he could see Tony studying the titles as he stacked them into a pile.

 

Then, he saw the inventor's eyes widen and Tony leaned towards him, nodded into the direction of Ajeet's bed with Devi sitting next to it and whispered: “Those – those aren't... they're not... I mean, not judging, but they're not _yours_ , are they?”

 

Bruce chuckled quietly and shook his head. “They just happened to move in here while I was away and it's not like I could tell them to leave or something. Besides, one of the boys is ill and it's good to have him nearby, anyway.” He shoved the last of the books aside. “Please, be my guest”, he said with a gesture to one of the well-used chairs. The engineer eyed it suspiciously before carefully sitting down. “Now, do you mind telling me how you found me?”

 

“Is that an actual question?”, the billionaire asked with one of his cocky grins. “Come on, Bruce, I've got resources. I've got satellites. With cameras. I've got JAR-” He cleared his throat. “FRIDAY, I mean. It's not that difficult.”

 

“Are you telling me that you let a facial recognition program run over the whole world until you found me?”, Bruce asked slowly.

 

“Uh... yeah?” Tony looked almost sheepish, but was still smiling.

 

“You don't have a satellite with the means to do something like that”, the physicist pointed out. “Please tell me you didn't hack the NASA.”

 

“What do you _think_ of me?!”, Tony exclaimed, arms held high. Bruce cocked an eyebrow at him and after a few seconds, the engineer sighed. “Okay, so I might or might not have done that. But I didn't use their satellites!”

 

“Didn't you now”, Bruce muttered drily.

 

Tony shook his head vehemently. “I really didn't. I mean, I planned to, but the software was horrible, so...”

 

“So what? You built your own and shot it into space?”, the scientist asked sarcastically. When Tony didn't answer, but just shrugged very slowly, his eyes widened and he repeated: “Oh my God. You built your own satellite and shot it into space.” Another shrug and a sheepish smile. “You built a satellite to search for _me_.” He shook his head and laughed disbelievingly. “You're insane.”

 

To his surprise, Tony's face lit up like a Christmas tree. “ _Finally_ , a smile, I thought I'd never get to see that again.”

 

“But- but _why_?”, Bruce asked.

 

“Why? Because you look more unhappy than when I first met you at the Helicarrier and it's really painful to look at”, the engineer answered promptly and Bruce grimaced. “Sorry, that wasn't very subtle.”

 

“No, it wasn't”, the physicist agreed. “But that's not what I meant. I meant you, searching for me like that. Why... why would you do that?”

 

For the first time, Tony hesitated before he replied: “Because it's horribly lonely without you in my lab and DUM-E misses you. By the way, I've waited almost two months for you to come back on your own.” Although he was still smiling, Bruce knew him long enough to tell that it wasn't said as jokingly as Tony wanted it to sound. But still...

 

“I can't come back, Tony”, he said slowly. “I'm... I'm just... I can't.”

 

The engineer was silent for a while and Bruce averted his eyes to stare out of the window. Eventually, there was a softly spoken question: “It's because of that Maximoff kid, isn't it?” The physicist shrugged uncomfortably. “You know, she's not our enemy anymore. That won't happen again.”

 

“I know, but it's... it's a general thing”, he responded hesitantly. “I could lose control anytime, Tony, there's not just one possible cause for it.”

 

“And it's better if it happens here than when it happens where I'm there to help out with Veronica?”

 

That hit home and for a moment, he just watched his own hands fidgeting on the table. Eventually, he muttered: “It's just much less likely to happen here than when I'm... I... I'm just not the hero type. The other guy is far too unpredictable for that.”

 

“Oh, come on, Jolly Green isn't...”

 

“Please stop it”, Devi suddenly chimed in, her English rough and tinted with a heavy accent. Bruce had noticed her watching them from Ajeet's bed, but now she had stepped up beside him and stared at Tony out of her big, dark eyes. “You're making him sad.”

 

Tony blinked at her and stated, surprised: “She speaks English.”

 

Bruce smiled fondly and explained: “This is Devi. She's really bright, I'm teaching her some medical skills. And English is a second language in India, Tony.” The engineer chuckled sheepishly. “Admittedly, they don't speak it much here in the slums. But Devi is good at it. She will turn ten next month, won't you?” The little girl nodded, still looking at their guest, who raised his eyebrows at the physicist at this blatant change of topic. Slowly enough for her to understand, Bruce said: “Devi, this is Tony Stark. He is a friend of mine.”

 

“Hello, Mr Stark”, she greeted politely, but she still seemed apprehensive.

 

“Nice to meet you, Devi”, Tony said. Turning towards his friend, he remarked: “She's protective, isn't she.”

 

“She means well”, Bruce replied. “Devi, Tony is a very nice person. He doesn't make me sad.”

 

“But you looked sad”, she responded in Hindi, her dark eyes focussed on him. She was really perceptive – with the right tutoring, she would make a great doctor one day.

 

“It's not his... his...” He searched for the word, but would probably still have to work on his Hindi skills before he could have a real conversation. After a moment, he just said: “He didn't do it.” She seemed to understand anyway and nodded.

 

“Well then”, Tony piped up, “I better be off then, right?” He stood up, grabbing the suitcase armour. Bruce couldn't help the small sting of disappointment he felt, although it had been _him_ who had told the inventor that he wouldn't come back with him. “You know my number if you need anything, Brucie. Just call.”

 

“Well, uh, I...” The physicist, having stood up as well, shuffled his feet awkwardly. “About that...”

 

“You ditched your phone, didn't you?”, Tony guessed with a grin that was half exasperated, half amused. Bruce nodded and watched his friend reach into his pocket to pull out one of his Stark Phones. He tapped away on it for some moments and then handed it over to the scientist. “There you go. You, uh...” He looked around. “Recharging will probably be difficult here, but these babies have a legendary battery, it should last quite some time. Also, you've got access to JARVIS – I, uh, I mean, FRIDAY, so there's that. Don't hesitate to call me should you need something or... you know.” He shrugged. “Wanna call, just for the sake of calling.”

 

“Tony, I can't accept...”

 

“Of course you can, we were over that already, didn't we?”, Tony interrupted his protests. “Me, billionaire, manufacturing these things? I've got more than enough of them. Keep it.”

 

“If I don't, I'll probably find it miraculously on my doorstep or in my bed tomorrow, won't I?”, Bruce asked drily.

 

“You will”, the engineer confirmed with a grin. “Catch you later, then.”

 

“Probably”, Bruce agreed and let Tony pull him into a short hug. “'til then.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A long phone call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For some reason, I thought it was a good idea to work at like ten stories at once. Forgive me if the waits are a bit longer in-between, I try to update as fast as I can write! ^.^  
> Also, to not make you wait too long, this isn't beta'ed yet. Hope there are not too many mistakes...

 

_You have three new messages._

 

_Brucie-bear, news flash. Phones were made to be used, which means, in this case, answered. There's a green button on the screen, you just gotta press it and then you can hear my wonderful voice on something else than your voicemail. Jeez, I hope you even listen to your voicemail. Well, whatever. Call me back, okay? The bill's on me, anyway. Catch you later!_

_To delete this message, press seven. To save this message, press nine. To listen to this message again..._

_Message saved._

 

_Hey, I meant it when I said you could call, you know? I probably shouldn't tell you, but that phone has a GPS signal and a tracker. I know the battery is fine, so that excuse doesn't work. Come on._

_To delete this message, press seven. To save this message, press nine. To..._

_Message saved._

 

_Guess who it is? Yeah, okay, that doesn't work, I'm the only one who has this number, but whatever. I was just... yeah, Pep, 'course – wait a moment, Bruce, be right back. I'll call again._

_To delete this message, press..._

_Message saved._

 

_Pepper just talked to me. I totally forgot about the time zones – one would think I'd know that after years in business, but... well. Guess I sort of kept calling you in the middle of the night. Sorry 'bout that! I'm still waiting for you to call back though._

_To..._

_Message saved._

 

Bruce sighed with a fond smile as he looked at the phone. He had woken up with the Stark Phone's lamp blinking insistently next to him and was glad that he had had it muted during the night – it had take Tony a while to remember the different time zones. Bruce contemplated calling him back at an appropriate time, but then again, it wasn't like the inventor had anything resembling a regular sleeping pattern.

 

His assumption was proven right when Tony picked the phone up after the second ring and cheerfully greeted: “Good morning, sunshine!”

 

“Yeah, you too,” the physicist replied, as always a little overwhelmed by his friend's enthusiasm. Deciding that nobody was up at this ungodly hour anyway, he settled back on the uncomfortable mattress and used one arm to pillow his head, gaze going out of the window. “You figured out time zones, then? One would think that you knew such things what with business around the world and everything,” he added.

 

“Because I usually care about sleeping patterns,” the billionaire deadpanned. “Like I would even notice something like jetlags.”

 

“I'll remember to turn my phone's volume off at night,” Bruce responded drily. “So, what's up? Did something happen?”

 

“Nope, I just thought I'd call since you didn't do it,” the inventor answered.

 

“You... seriously? Ah, no, of course. I'm sorry. Hear my bad conscience? I mean, you've been gone for almost nine hours before I went to sleep, how could I not call you? I hope that didn't damage you too severely,” Bruce retorted sarcastically.

 

“Alright, alright, I get it,” Tony laughed at the other end of the line. “I'm a rich genius, I have a patented right to be weird. So how's things over there?”

 

“Fine. I mean, as fine as things are over here. But yeah, I'm fine.” And rambling. Why was he rambling? That was usually Tony's thing, wasn't it? _But then again, what is usual about this?_ , he mused silently. _I wanted to move on from all of this completely, cut all ties, and yet here I am, talking to Tony Stark._

 

“Wow,” the inventor uttered after a moment of silence, “that's gotta be the least convincing lie I've heard in a long time.”

 

“Shut up,” Bruce groused, rolling over on his side. “I'm fine.”

 

“People treating you good over there?”, Tony continued. Without an apology. Of course.

 

“Yeah,” the physicist answered cautiously.

 

“Getting along well?”

 

“Yep?” A little more suspicious.

 

“Met somebody?”

 

“Tony, are you really this bored?”

 

“No! I'm just... concerned. A bit.” Bruce answered with unimpressed silence and there was a sigh from Tony. “Okay, so I'm a _bit_ bored. But that doesn't mean I'm not worried, too.”

 

“I'm fine, Tony, I'm a grown-up,” the physicist mumbled, sounding far less convinced than he would have liked. To prevent Tony from commenting on it, he continued: “I'm sure you'll find something to do. You have a bunch of cars...”

 

“All upgraded.”

 

“...suits to work on...”

 

“Out of ideas.”

 

“...a group of junior-Avengers...”

 

“Cap takes care of those.”

 

“...a workshop...”

 

“Boring without you.”

 

“...a girlfriend...” That was met with heavy silence and Bruce waited a moment for Tony to come up with a witty remark, but when nothing followed, he sucked in a sharp breath. “Tony?”

 

He heard the engineer clear his throat before he hesitantly replied: “Yeah, 'bout that. I, uh... I guess that's a closed chapter now.”

 

“Oh, Tony,” Bruce sighed, suddenly wishing that he wasn't on another continent right now. “What happened? I mean, I'm not that kind of doctor, but...”

 

“ _Bruce_ ,” Tony interrupted, “I don't need a therapist to talk about screwed-up relationships. I need a friend. We tried the therapist thing, didn't work, I'd rather have you as a friend. Okay?”

 

“Okay,” the physicist answered quietly. “Yeah. Of course.” Why did that just feel like Tony was consoling him and not the other way around?

 

“Good. Thanks,” came the reply, followed by a sigh like Tony was sitting down somewhere or making himself more comfortable. “Well, about Pep... I'm... actually more okay with that than I thought I would. First, she was pissed because I started building suits again after I promised not to, you might have noticed one or two of the arguments before, well, Ultron, but...” He cleared his throat again. “I might have... okay, now that I'm saying it, it's sort of awkward.” A sigh. “Okay, let's just say that I have an eye on someone else. Have had, for quite some time, actually.”

 

“Shit,” Bruce muttered before he could stop himself. “So you...”

 

“No, no, I didn't act on it,” Tony assured hastily. “Been faithful, really. But she noticed anyway. And that, together with the suits and our usual bantering and the company... she wasn't okay with it, obviously, and stuff happened. It's how things go, I guess.”

 

“Ah,” the physicist commented non-committally. “That's... a pity?”

 

“Was bound to happen, really,” the engineer responded. “It still wasn't nice, I probably wouldn't have chosen to do it, but... such is life, right?”

 

“Right,” Bruce affirmed dully. “So when did you two...?”

 

Again, Tony cleared his throat. “Some hours ago. Pretty much right after I called you the second

 

“Wait, do you – oh. _Oh._ ” He cut himself off and thought back to the third message. Tony had sounded subdued, but he had just assumed that it had been because he'd realized the thing about the time zones. _“_ So when you said that Pepper talked to you, then you meant that... oh god, Tony. I'm...”

 

“Stop saying you're sorry,” the inventor interrupted. “Seriously, it's not your fault and I'm okay with it. I really am. You have nothing to apologize for.”

 

“Sorry,” he muttered.

 

“Dammit, Bruce!”, Tony snapped, but the physicist could hear the laughter in his voice. Mission accomplished.

 

Still, he couldn't help but ask: “So you're telling me that you called, she walked in, broke up and you just called again?”

 

“If you'd paid attention to the times, there were about two hours between the second and the third call,” Tony pointed out.

 

“Oh. Oh, well then.” Bruce frantically thought about something to keep the conversation going. “And, um... about that other person? The one who caught your eye some time ago?” It had to be somebody remarkable to distract Tony to a degree that made Pepper notice. Someone who occupied Tony's thoughts for quite some time, apparently. For some reason, that thought caused the physicist to feel a sting of discontent. Or maybe something else that he couldn't quite place. Rolling onto his back again, he asked: “Do I know her?”

 

“You...” Tony cleared his throat. “I... sort of. You know him, a bit, a fleeting acquaintance maybe, or actually, I think that you might not have met him yet. At all. Maybe seen him around when you... uh...”

 

“Wait, wait, let me catch up,” Bruce demanded. “First of all: _he_?” There was a hesitant, but affirming _uh-huh_ from the inventor, very quiet, as if... “Tony, you know that that's not a problem, right?”

 

“Yeah, yeah, of course,” the billionaire assured hastily, but it sounded decidedly relieved. “I know that.”

 

“Good. So now, up to second: Do I know her- I mean, him? Where did you meet him?” He kept posing questions with some morbid sort of curiosity although he really didn't want to know anything about that. About Tony finding somebody else to occupy his time with, somebody else to... _You're the one who walked away, idiot_ , he reminded himself. _You really can't complain now._

 

“On... uh, with... during... well. At work, sort of,” Tony replied after a bit of stammering. “He worked on a project with me.”

 

“Oh,” Bruce made, a small surprised sound. “You let him work on a project with you? Then he's really gotta be something.” A small, bitter smile graced his lips.

 

“He definitely is,” the inventor confirmed. “He's really smart, and he bears me in the lab, which I've heard is an accomplishment in itself. He had some really great ideas while we were working on the suits.”

 

“You let him see your suits?”, he blurted out without thinking about it. “I- I mean... you have to trust him, then. That's... that's great, Tony. Really.” He tried to make his tone light and mostly succeeded, but it was still painful to hear how fast Tony had found a replacement for him. Somebody to bear him in the lab, to work on the suits, to keep up with him.

 

“I do,” Tony replied, although it did sound oddly quiet. “But I'm not sure that there's going to be something. We've had a really great friendship so far, but I kind of scared him away with one of my rushed ideas and... I'm not sure if I can, you know, rebuild the bridges I've burnt with that.” A heavy sigh from the billionaire caused some crackling on the line. Afterwards, his voice was lighter again: “And I don't even know if he likes guys. I know he had a relationship with at least one girl so far, but I didn't wanna dig so I didn't ask. He might be completely straight for all I know. Honestly though, if he could... could forgive me for what I did, I think that'd be enough. To be friends with him again, at least.”

 

“What did you do?”, Bruce asked. “If you want to tell me, that is.”

 

“I... that's complicated,” his friend replied evasively. “Maybe... maybe another time? I think I should go to bed now. I need some sleep. I'll tell you later, if that's okay.”

 

“Sure,” Bruce replied with a nod that Tony couldn't see. “And Tony?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“I think he'll forgive you if you give him some time,” he said quietly, feeling something hollow settling in his chest at the words.

 

“You think so?”, Tony asked, his voice full of reluctant hope.

 

 _My god, he's completely smitten_ , Bruce thought to himself, the idea causing him a sting of bitterness, and he chewed on his lip for a moment before he remembered that he had yet to answer. Making his voice sound as calm and collected as he could, he replied: “I'm sure he will.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been so long! My mum broke our internet -.-

 

 _For the fourth time that evening, Tony dialled Bruce's number. Again, he ended up on the voicemail, sighed and began with a cheerful voice: “Guess who it is? Yeah, okay, that doesn't work, I'm the only one who has this number, but whatever.”_ Wow, Tony, smooth _, he thought to himself with a grimace. “I was just...” The clicking of heels in the hallway announced Pepper's presence before she entered the room._

 

“ _Hey,” she greeted, caught sight of the phone and visibly deflated. She knew that Tony usually hated calls, especially when it was about business, and all the other Avengers were in the Tower. She wasn't dumb, there was just one person he could be talking to and she knew that. “Tony, could I have a word with you?”_

 

_The inventor nodded and held the phone away from his mouth slightly. “Yeah, Pep, 'course,” he answered and then added, directed at Bruce again: “Wait a moment, Bruce, be right back. I'll call again.” Hanging up, he tossed the phone onto the couch beside him and flashed her a grin, which hoped looked convincing enough to conceal the worry building up inside of him. He knew Pepper long enough to see when something was up. “Hi, darling.”_

 

“ _Don't 'darling' me now, Tony,” she responded, but she sounded more defeated than anything else. The engineer raised his eyebrows, but stayed silent. Relationship talks had never been his forte; why did they have to_ talk _about everything? “And that look doesn't cut it anymore, either. You know what I want, don't you?”_

 

“ _'fraid not,” he answered, not quite honestly. “You'll have to talk to me.” And here they were again. Talking._

 

_Pepper sighed, her shoulders slumping, and stepped into the room. She threw the folder she'd been holding onto the coffee table and sat down next to Tony on the couch, but held up a hand when he tried to scoot closer. Quietly, she said: “Please don't.”_

 

“ _Bad day?”, Tony asked, trying to act like everything was okay._

 

“ _Stop it, Tony,” Pepper pleaded, and he was surprised to see tears glittering in her eyes._

 

“ _Hey, Pep, don't- what's up?”, the inventor demanded, honest concern in his voice. He took hold of her hands. “Come on, you...”_

 

“ _Stop it!”, she repeated, more harshly this time, and pulled her hand back. Taking a deep breath, she picked the phone up from between them and held it up. “Don't ask me what's wrong, you know exactly what it is. And Tony, without wanting to be dramatic, I can't do that, I can't stand this anymore.”_

 

“ _Wait, are you... oh come on, Pep, are you serious? I'm worried about him, that's all”, Tony defended himself. “No matter what he thinks, isolating himself just isn't the right thing for him, he's harming himself. I just want to...”_

 

“ _You're doing it again!”, she interrupted. “See? You're going on and on about Bruce and you don't get what that's doing to me!”_

 

“ _He's my friend, Pep, of course I'm worried about him, what do you...”_

 

“ _You never call Rhodey to ask how he's doing,” she pointed out._

 

“ _Rhodey calls by himself or he just comes over,” he retorted._

 

“ _Could we just stop this game, Tony? I've seen the way you look at him.”_

 

“ _Whom? Rhodey?”_

 

“ _Can't you be serious for five damn minutes!”, Pepper snapped and Tony flinched at the volume of her voice. With a trembling exhale, she added a quiet “_ please _, Tony”._

 

 _The engineer closed his eyes and nodded slowly. She wouldn't give up, no matter how long he danced around it. “'kay. So what you're_ accusing _me of is...?”_

 

“ _You,” she replied, “and Bruce. You promised me to be honest when we started this, remember? So stay true to your word, Tony, that's the least you can do now.”_

 

“ _Bruce?” he repeated. “Pep, I swear to god, I never had anything with –“_

 

“ _I know you didn't,” she interrupted, “but I also know that he's the only thing you care about these days. And you know that we agreed to have loose boundaries, and I'm putting up with your flings...”_

 

“ _I didn't have a one-night-stand in ages!” the inventor protested, but she just kept talking over him._

 

“ _...and the suits that you promised me to stop using as a distraction and the whole disaster that was Ultron and your incapacity of keeping a schedule, but this is something else and frankly, what hurts more than that it's_ happening _is that you didn't tell me about it.”_

 

“ _There's nothing happening,” Tony lied weakly, not meeting her eyes. Instead, he stared at her fingers, curled around the edge of the sofa cushions. Soft, slender, delicate fingers. Pepper was everything but delicate and soft when she wanted to, but even he had to admit that the shit he had put their relationship through wasn't fair to her in any way._

 

“ _We both know that's not true, Tony,” she responded quietly and sounded almost pitying._

 

_He swallowed and dared to look up. “So?”_

 

“ _So what?”_

 

“ _So what do we do now?” he asked._

 

_Pepper sighed, looking more defeated than he had ever seen her. In that moment, Tony hated himself for being the cause of this state, for doing this to her, because she deserved so much better._

 

“ _Tony,” she replied patiently, as if talking to a small child, “you can't be in a relationship with a person you don't love.”_

 

_It took a moment for the words to fully register and when they did, he flinched and hastily began: “But I...” The words got stuck in his throat and he swallowed to dislodge the lump that was forming there.. “I...”_

 

“ _It's fine,” Pepper said, although her bitter voice betrayed that it really was anything but. Still, she repeated: “It's fine.”_

 

“ _It's not,” Tony stated the obvious. “This isn't anywhere fucking close to fine. Is this – is this you breaking up with me? Because I called Bruce? Come on, Pep, this is ridiculous. You're behaving ridiculous. All of this is completely unnecessary.”_

 

_She just stood up and smoothed out her skirt before saying: “I'm not going to yell at you, Tony. I'm not letting you make this a fight. I'm not going to take the blame later because I couldn't keep my calm. This is on you.” With these words, she picked up the folder that she had put aside before._

 

_Tony watched her incredulously, but didn't make a move to stop her. He would have liked to protest, some part of him told him to; but he knew that in the end, Pepper's words had hit too close to home for him to deny them._

 

“ _Fine,” he replied, surprised by how hoarse his voice sounded. “Fine. If that's what you want.”_

 

“ _It's not what I_ want _,” Pepper responded, “it's what is right, Tony.”_

 

“ _Yeah. Sure. Whatever you say,” the inventor snorted and crossed his arms in front of his chest, leaning back into the couch's cushions, his girlfriends' – ex-girlfriend's? – sigh in his ears before she turned around and left the room with clicking heels._

 

 _The whole break-up was extremely... Pepper. Professional, calm, reasonable. Just the way that made it impossible to bring any arguments, to get worked up, to get_ angry _without seeming like an unreasonable, petulant child._

 

_Taking a deep breath, he stood up from the sofa and made a beeline towards the bar. It was about time for a drink._

 

Tony lay on his back on his bed. His strangely large, empty bed. One arm was tucked behind his head, the free hand played with the phone, turning it over and over again. Tiredly, he stared at the ceiling, debating with himself on whether he should call Bruce, _again_ , or leave him in peace for at least some days. After all, he knew that the physicist had retreated to his old hideout because he wanted peace, which was probably not exactly what Tony gave him. Their phone call had taken place just the day before.

 

 _I'm sure he'll forgive you if you give him some time._ Uncertainly, the inventor stared at his phone. One day did probably not qualify as _some time_ in Bruce's definition. Not for the first time since their conversation, he wondered about whether his friend had understood that he was talking about him or had actually bought the poorly fabricated lie about some new work colleague who had caught Tony's attention.

 

Knowing Bruce's self-esteem, it was probably the latter.

 

In the end, Tony settled for a text so he didn't have to keep completely to himself, but didn't seem too obtrusive either: > _Mind if I come over? <_

 

Then, he rolled over onto his stomach and proceeded to swing his legs in the air like a child, staring at the black screen in anticipation (although the answer could take hours for all he knew, he wasn't sure what time it was in India right now or if his friend had patients over) until it lit up with a message: > _You say that as if it's an one-hour-drive. <_

 

The inventor grinned.

 

_> Wanna bet?<_

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Admittedly, I don't really like how this turned out, but I felt like that scene had to be done, so...


End file.
